The present invention relates to pointing devices and, more particularly, to a pointing device such as a joystick including a roller.
Some mouse devices include a roller for such functions as controlling cursor movement along a third axis, scrolling, or zooming. The roller is operated by a user finger much like a dial on a radio. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,344 shows a user operable roller which includes a shaft extending to an optical encoder wheel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,455 discloses a roller having a shaft which drives a belt connected to a pulley on a separate encoder. Heretofore, the roller has been used in mouse devices or the like for functions such as cursor movement, scrolling, and zooming that compliment the operation of such devices in particular applications.
The present invention provides a roller in pointing devices such as joysticks, game pads, or steering wheels, performing functions that compliment the operation of those devices. For example, the roller rotation by a preset angle may be interpreted as a button press, and roller rotation by multiples of the preset angle represents a series of button presses. The button press may be assigned a function such as selecting an item from a menu or adjusting attributes of objects or data displayed on a computer screen, such as the selection or firing of weapons or adjustment of shield balance in a video game application. Instead of button presses, the roller rotation may, by way of example, generate a stream of relative axis displacement data having preassigned functions associated therewith.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a method of operating an input device having a roller comprises detecting rotational movement of the roller, and generating a first signal in response to the rotational movement of the roller in a first direction. In response to the first signal, a first button is activated.
In specific embodiments, the first signal is a first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signal including a first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d state for a preset duration followed by a first button xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d state. The first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signal is generated for a preset amount of rotational movement of the roller in the first direction. A series of first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signals are generated in response to rotational movement in the first direction of the roller of multiples of the preset amount each corresponding to a single first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signal. A first function is assigned to the first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signal, and the series of first button xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d signals represent repeating the first function by the same multiples. The first button may activate a first preassigned function of sequentially selecting a next item in a first menu of items in response to the first signal.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of operating an input device having a roller comprises detecting rotational movement of the roller measured in discrete rotational steps, and generating a signal in response to the rotational movement of the roller. The first signal includes relative displacement data comprising a number of rotational steps per a preset time interval. A preassigned function is activated in response to the signal. In specific embodiments, the preassigned function varies with the number of rotational steps per the preset time interval, and may also vary with the direction of rotation of the roller.